Byte open meeting at Combs Sailing Club

Race 5 - Byte open meeting at Combs © John Saunders

The Combs Open saw ten keen sailors descend on the sailing club, which was lacking in water but not in close racing. Saturday saw 4 races sailed in a medium breeze that kept everyone working hard, with shifts and gusts to challenge the sailors, whilst Sunday's two races brought stronger winds and the multiple downwind capsizes that always accompany this from a Byte!

The first race of Saturday began with a strong start from Victoria Theaker and Kate Fox-Davies (who impressively had consistently strong starts throughout the weekend), whilst at the other end of the start line Rick Whitehouse and Emma Robertson managed to mess up their own and each other's starts, leaving them with it all to do to work their way through the fleet to finish first and second respectively. Kate came home in third.

Special mention goes to Julius Mach who kindly tested the depth of the water for us pre-start by performing a wonderful turtle! (We can confirm there is enough depth to turtle, and after further experimentation this was corrected to enough depth in some places.)

In the second race Bryn Abendstern and Rick got a little optimistic on the start line, prompting an individual recall. Emma went on to win, with Victoria in second and Rick in third.

The third race saw a close three-way battle between Emma, Rick and Bryn. Emma was just holding the lead until one of the beats saw Rick and Bryn make tactical decisions to go close to the banks and take lifters, while Emma stuck to the middle, got headed many times and was promptly relegated to third! Rick went on to win, chased closely by Bryn.

After an energy level boost by a cake break, featuring John's trifle, the fleet took to the water for the final race.

Alex Bowden had an awesome start, and continued the race in this style to finish second. Emma had a great battle with Alex to take the win, and Victoria came home in third after a close finish on the line with Rick and Bryn.

After a great day sailing the sailors and their support crews retired to the beehive for a lovely evening and pub food.

Race 3 - Byte open meeting at Combs - photo © John Saunders

Sunday morning began with strong winds that, much to the relief of the tired sailors, died down slightly to become a touch more manageable. Nevertheless, the breeze was challenging and a special mention must go to Will Moreby who, despite a few capsizes, showed amazing perseverance and boat control throughout the day, and the weekend, well done!

The first race saw a multitude of capsizes at one of the many gybe marks, which left Rachael Mackinder a nice obstacle course to weave her way through in the C1. Rick led the way after a great port flyer, but unfortunately capsized on one of the beats, handing the race win to Emma and following in a close second, with Kate leading the rest of the fleet in third.

The final race saw a great couple laps of close racing between Rick, Victoria, Bryn and Emma, largely but not always in that order! An unfortunate capsize during a daggerboard adjustment forced Rick to retire, leaving Bryn to take a dominant lead and win using the lifters along the bank to great advantage.

Emma attempted and failed to chase him down coming in second, and Kate ended a strong day with another third.

Overall, Will (Combs) took the prize for first Junior, and capsize king! Rachel (Netley) won First C1 rig. Emma (Swarkestone) came in first overall, Rick (Combs) second and Bryn (Toddbrook) third.

The weekend was a massive success thanks to everyone at Combs who played a role on the day or behind the scenes to host such a great event. Also, a big thanks to all the sailors for coming and for such great and close racing, especially Julius, Clare and Rachel who made the 7 hour drive up north in Friday traffic!

Overall Results:

Byte open meeting at Combs - photo © John Saunders